With the satisfyingly realized and solid Mirror Traffic, Malkmus is at the top of his game, both as a consistent songwriter and guitarist, continuing the upwardly mobile trajectory of an enduring and golden indie-rock solo career in it's second decade, playing and singing better than ever.

If ancient Rome is where you want to go, Ancient Romans is your time machine; your one-way ticket to that magical, distant land.

What they lack in experience they make up for in pure zeal.

The relentless energy expended throughout the album will no doubt also make the album appeal to fans of Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Pendulum or the Prodigy. But listeners with a broader appreciation of dance and electronic music would be well advised to source their dubstep fix from elsewhere.

Excise a few tracks and La Liberacion would make a good soundtrack to the summer, or what's left of it at least

It's just painfully mediocre.

If Small Craft on a Milk Sea was an installation piece in the museum of Brian Eno's career, requiring rapt attention to find meaning, Drums Between the Bells is modern art that immediately captures those witnessing it in a state of aesthetic arrest.

here's no escaping the fact that although Mazes are quite capable of a good tune, there's often very little to separate one track from the next.

Route One or Die is many things--immense, joyful, weird and above all aptly titled, as you'd be hard-pressed to find another debut album released this year --British or otherwise--that sounds so completely vibrant and alive.

A fully conceived album of beautifully crafted songs, and a real treat for fans and newcomers alike.

King is worth a listen, but only to prepare yourself for their next visit to a neighborhood near you.

The Rip Tide lacks an extension into flair, even though their music is already considered exotic by the instrumentation alone, the creative panache is missing.

Vile may get all the end-of-year glory, but his comrade's first full-length effort is just as laudable and commendable.

This is hip-hop that doesn't attack; it drifts. Black Up is full of ghostly howls and weird barely-there percussion, devoid of anything like a single.

Krug is a songwriter whose craft is best when met with the editing of other musicians--left to himself, however, we are left with a very forgettable retreat into his very OMD-obsessed psyche.

This album is an abomination. It's a rancid pile of regurgitated tripe.

Future Self sounds like a developing band, but one that's developing in some incredible directions. None of it is glaringly new, but they sound quietly innovative, developing their own unique take on indie rock.

What's Going On is not only a remarkable album, but an opportunity to discover a seminal artist at the peak of his powers; an insight into a true modern genius of pop music.

Sky Full of Holes, the band's fifth release, doesn't stray from their foundation of fitting rhymed schemes amidst archetypical power pop chords.

Sounding grandiose and understated simultaneously is not an easy feat, but it's one that Cat's Eyes manages to do almost relentlessly.

Woods should take the cue from Bill Callahan and what he accomplished with Smog: if you are going to delve into the restricting realm of lo-fi, there has to be emotional and appealing substance and quality in the songs themselves. Lowering the production quality does not, as in a double helix, imply that the songwriting quality will improve.

Placing aside what amounts to unfortunate filler (the friends portions aren't as evocative), Family & Friends portrays the inevitability of growing up and keeping up with outside expectations with a deft touch.

Robinson certainly bolsters There Is A Way's meaty riffs and hooks; those guitars sound a bit more Kerrang than NME on this second album. The band's songwriting too is more restrained and conventional, but always high octane – they scream overwhelmingly through the whole album without really letting you pause for breath.

It's still considered the band's last album as an underground presence, so it holds importance as something monumental in the band's development. As an album, Lifes Rich Pageant is enjoyable and clean.

Like those early EPs, Gloss Drop relies more heavily on complex rhythms and wonky melodies to get its point across.

When Fish Ride Bicycles is like any high school parking lot. There are cool kids, newcomers, wallflowers and seniors that should have graduated last year but decided to stick around because it's still fun and easy.

You may not love it, but you'll probably like it, and that's enough.

It's a solid, summery album that more than delivers on the tunes, and the LOLs, and you can't really ask for more than that.